Music. For people with ears.

I better get a bit of a wiggle on as I don’t want to be writing about this stuff after Chrimbo. Let’s get cracking.

So ‘Wander…’ was our first single of the album. I think, in the same way ‘Alfred…’ did on the first album it sort of summed up in succinct fashion everything about the band at that point. Harmony guitars, weird time signature, little bit heavier, creepy lyrics. It also has a Westlife-style key change in it. What more can you want in a song?

The words themselves are very stalker-y. Seemed to come naturally that part. Not sure what that says about me. We made a lovely video (see below) with our pal Joe Watson who fronted the excellent Attack! Vipers. They also split at Southsea Fest this year though. The TBOTB curse strikes again? Sorry about that. The vid itself was filmed in the round tower in Old Portsmouth where I’m fairly sure we weren’t allowed to be so in vaguely rock and roll style we got in and out before THE ROZZERS COULD GET US. I doubt the rozzers would have really given a toss.

It got a wee bit of radio play on 6music specialty shows and Amazing radio (where the esteemed Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins/Bella Union gave it a spin…probably a career highlight for me personally…) and also gave us a bit of a fright when we got the test-pressing of the vinyl back from the plant as there were 3 suspicious scratches at the end of the song. Turns out it was when we recorded Elliott’s lighter for some reason and I’d forgotten that we bunged it on the recording. There was a reason for it but it escapes me now….I also recall myself and David doing a reworked, quiet acoustic version live on Express FM. It was hideous.

We proudly present the video for our new single ‘Wander (Through the Night)

We hope you like it. A thousand thanks to the supremely talented Joe Watson from http://visionincision.tumblr.com/ for dealing with wet, grimy, uber-DIY conditions and basically making us look better than we are…

…you know the fella. He was always my favourite. He transformed into a tape player. Why would the Decepticons need that? In case – whilst attempting to destroy the Autobots/the Earth/anyone getting in the way of their general evil shenanigans – they fancied throwing on a bit of Maxi Priest to soundtrack their malevolent wrong-doings?

Odd.

Is there an equivalent in the animated-robofolks-from-Cybertron’s cartoon antics today? Does he download MP3’s in an evil fashion (p’raps dodgy copies?) and fling them at Optimus and co? Would being slapped in the face with an MP3 hurt? Am I talking too much about Transformers?

Yes. Yes I am.

So…the very tenuous link here is that, we’ve been played on the radio a bit. Which is nice (did Soundwave have an FM tuner built in…? Sorry.) You can hear some of these shows again via the wonders of the internettings.

First up – splendid long-time supporters BBC Introducing: The South whipped out a bit of ‘Sharks of the Atomic Atoll’ last Sunday. Thankyou kindly folks. (1hour 15 in…)

Secondly – ‘Wander (Through the Night)’ was played on Amazing Radio by none other than Bella Union head-honcho and former Cocteau Twin bassmeister Simon Raymonde on Monday. This was a special honour for us as BU are my fave indie label ever and have released some of the best records of the last 15 years. If you like good music, you’ll likely own something by them. (59 mins in…)

Special thanks too for the Leigh and Joel In The Morning Show on Express FM as they played us last week too. Unfortunately there’s no listen again feature for them but here’s a link to their most excellent show – they’re great supporters of the local music scene here in sunny Southsea…check em oot…

Speaking of the Jubilee – we’re headlining the 2nd Stage at this – http://www.victoriousvintage.co.uk/ on Sunday night. It’s free and, if you don’t fancy the chirpyness of The Lightning Seeds, we’ll be sending out our misery-pop and Transformer-based anecdotes at 9.30pm. Go on the Saturday night too cos our Elliott’s other band will be making a gentle racket. And they’re up against Dodgy. Nuff said.